Codename: Sailor V and the Thief
by catgirl Serenity
Summary: Youko Kurama has been captured, a botched robbery spelling the end of his infamous crime spree. He is scheduled for execution but before the sentence can be carried out, Koenma approached the jaded spirit fox with the chance to save himself but at what cost? Rated T for violence and some language. NOT VenusxYouko
1. Act 1: Sailor V is Born Pt 1

A/N: I saw a fanfic of a Sailor Moon, Yu Yu Hakusho crossover where Kurama/Suiichi fell in love with Minako. It was cute, a little cliché but cute none the less, and it inspired me to do a similar crossover with a twist of my own. I hope you enjoy!

(For those following my Merlin story, I am working on it but probably won't have anything up for another month, I'm heading for Europe soon and won't have my computer will me while there. Sorry for the wait and thank you for your patience!)

Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor V or Yu Yu Hakusho. I did write this story though, it's my incarnation of Sailor V.

Enjoy.

Codename: Sailor V and the Thief

Youko Kurama has been captured, a botched robbery spelling the end of his infamous crime spree. He is scheduled for execution but before the sentence can be carried out, Koenma approached the jaded spirit fox with the chance to save himself but at what cost?

Act 1: Sailor V is Born Pt 1

...

Minako Aino, thirteen years old, middle school student with average grades. Blonde hair, blue eyes, an unusual affinity for anything involving sports and a magnet for trouble.

Youko Kurama decided that either Spirit World had screwed up _big_ time or had far too much faith in him. And considering he was a master thief—arrest and imprisonment not-withstanding—he was more inclined to believe the former. Spirit World's poor intelligence though was hardly Youko's problem, Koenma had promised the spirit fox his freedom in exchange for advising and guarding _this_ human girl and Youko was going to do just that regardless of whether the Spirit World had done its job or not.

Keeping to the shadows of the hedges that framed the school's athletic fields, Youko watched his target spin effortlessly around a metal bar. His golden eyes followed her as she released the bar and tucked with her momentum into a flip—descent for a human—before landing, heavily, on the matt below the bars. The blonde—that was a little odd, blonde hair in Japan? Really?—winced as her teacher shouted at her from across the field, apparently the human had been showing off with that last move. Youko smiled, that was something he could appreciate.

"Jeez, Mina-chan, you just can't help yourself can you?" a girl with short blue hair commented as his target rejoined her classmates.

The blonde pouted, "I'm not showing off, Hikaru-chan, the other move's just too easy. What's the point of doing something easy?"

The other human, Hikaru, rolled her eyes, "Now if you'd only apply that logic to school work and you'd be an all-star athlete _and _student."

Minako grinned, "If you say so, Hiraku-chan."

Hikaru cocked her head to the side, "You seem awfully upbeat today, Mina-chan, more so than usual at least. What's up?"

Youko watched his target giggle and whip out a white envelope with a name scrawled across the front, "I'm giving _this_ to Higashi-senpai today!"

"A love letter?" Hikaru asked and Youko had to repress a groan. Great, as if human teenagers weren't hard enough to deal with, now he was stuck with a love-struck fool. Why did he get the feeling he was going to regret ever making that deal with the brat Koenma?

Retreating from the bushes, the spirit fox took up residence atop the school, his keen gold eyes tracking the blonde across the school yard.

The fur along his neck rose and prickled, as clear a sign as any that he was angry. Imagine, a powerful demon, a legend such as himself, reduced to the guardian of an air-headed human, no older than a babe! It was humiliating and insulting, but then that summed up the whole circumstance of his capture.

Youko Kurama prided himself in the precision with which he executed a heist, every step of every possible outcome was planned for or against. It was more than just a profession, it was an art. But this one time, he got cocky and greedy for his target, both traits he loathed and once attributed only to Yomi. Youko had thought himself above such flaws but it was those very things that led to his capture. And he was paying dearly for it now, being forced to play babysitter for this human!

The fox demon forced himself to take a deep breath. Anger clouded judgment more than greed or pride. Youko knew he would need every ounce of his infamous patience in order to survive this task. His freedom was more than worth the irritation of putting up with a human for a while.

That was another annoyance, Youko reflected as he settled down atop the chain-link fence on the roof, Koenma had failed to mention just how long this mission of his would be. The toddler king had been infuriatingly vague on several details that Youko would rather know but, as Koenma had reminded him, the fox thief was really in no position to make demands. Youko could appreciate that, he was a trickster by nature and there were rules that had to be respected. He lost and now had to deal with the consequences of it; complaining—and irrational anger—would only waste time.

Youko jumped suddenly as a wave of malice struck him like a tsunami, starling him from his thoughts. The fox's entire body stood rigid as he scanned the area for the threat but no demon thirsting for revenge dropped out of the sky or approached him at all. Youko scented the air, there were a few demons close by but none that were aware of his presence or would ever pose much of a threat. Eyes narrowing, the fox turned his eyes on the students below; while the presence had been startlingly malevolent it had not been particularly strong so it was possible…

There!

Youko dropped into the leafy foliage of the ground's many trees. He crept along a flimsy branch to get a closer look at the human boy the evil intents emanated from. The fox's eyes narrowed: no, not a human, this was a demon masquerading as a boy.

Why? Youko wondered briefly. Most demons considered themselves above the human species and would never subject themselves to suck interment interaction, so why? It only took a moment longer for Youko to come to the answer: food. Many demons relied on human souls or energy to survive. A good portion of the disappearances, murders or unexplained commas in the human world could be attributed to a demon.

Youko could appreciate the cunning in this demon's tactics. Sure, Youko would never mingle with humans so willingly but if this demon had no other way of obtaining the food he needed…well, survival was the ultimate goal.

Moving further down the branch, Youko wondered if he should attempt contacting the demon—an ally this experience with the human world would be useful—but just as the thought crossed his mind the branch beneath him snapped! With a bark of surprise, Youko tumbled to the ground, landing in an undignified mess of limbs and tails.

"What's that?" a female human exclaimed.

"Is that a cat?"

"No it's a fox!" a boy said.

Scowling, Youko jumped to his feet and made a run for it, his ears still prickling with the children's confused voices.

"I've never seen a fox this close to the city, especially a white one."

"Do foxes even climb trees?"

"Mina-chan, what's wrong?"

Youko looked back at the blonde girl. Gold eyes met sapphire blue for a heartbeat before Youko disappeared into the street. Even as he continued to put distance between himself and the school—mostly to out run the humiliation of falling from a tree then to escape the students—he could hear his target talking to her friend.

"Hikaru-chan, did that fox have four tales?"

….

That afternoon found an irritated Youko Kurama once again perched atop the school. After running off the embarrassment, Youko reflected on the morning's events; more specifically, he focused the revelation that his target, Aino Minako, had seen not just one or two of his tales but all four.

Humans with untrained sixth senses could usually only see one of Youko's tales and even if they were trained they usually only saw two, but this girl had seen all four and as far as Youko knew she was completely untrained in the spiritual sense. It was interesting, though hardly enough so to normally stir his interest. If he was a free fox, and bored out of his mind, he might have pulled a few tricks on her just for entertainment, but for now his intentions for the girl were different.

At least now he had some indication that Spirit World's intelligence was onto _something_—though he still was not convinced that this "something" was significant enough to warrant his time. If anything he found the disguised demon to be far more intriguing than his target. At least this demon displayed some level of cunning and intelligence. He wondered briefly if the demon had taken notice of him. Youko saw nothing to indicate that and he ultimately decided it was not an issue either way. Even with his powers restricted by Spirit World, Youko was the stronger of the two.

A commotion broke out in one of the rooms below, which usually would not bother the fox but the girl was his target and, according to Spirit World, his responsibility now. If the disguised demon had decided to make her a target then Koenma might retract their original deal. Jumping down to a tree branch outside the class window, Youko looked in to see his target beat the snot out of two human boys: "Jerks!" she snapped, "How dare you say something like that! I am _not_ rude!"

Youko's lips twitched up in a small smirk, maybe he wouldn't find this girl so annoying after all.

The boys rubbed their heads and glared at the blonde. "You are not a girl, Mina-chan!" one boy grumbled.

"I'd really like to see her cry for once." The other grumbled, examining his broken glasses.

Minako stuck her tongue out at both boys, "I _never _cry!"

Youko snorted, 'Well, that was immature.' He reflected, 'Though I suppose I can't fault her for it, she is just a child.'

"Yeah, you'd have to have a heart to cry wouldn't you?"

Youko settled down on the branch as his target lunged at the boys again, dealing out swift justice for the insult. If he could say nothing else for them, humans were certainly entertaining.

…

The rest of the school day passed without incident for the spirit fox or his target. Youko spent most of that time deciding how to approach the girl; from what he could see the girl would probably think it some kind of trick if he just went up and started talking—though that was guaranteed to have some entertaining outcomes. Regardless of however the meeting went, Youko had decided that it would wait until later that night when she was home. Humans felt safer in their homes so she would be less likely to run away or spook.

When the last bell of the day, the girl all but sprinted from the room, her letter clasped tightly in her hands. 'It's probably wrinkled as hell now.' Youko mused as he stood and stretched. His tails twitched as another spark of malice came his way. The fox looked down from his branch to see the human-disguised-demon leave the building, surrounded by several females—no doubt his meals for later. Youko watched the demon and its prey leave the school grounds, though he knew the demon was not particularly strong something about him made Youko uneasy.

He heard the doors of the school open and spotted his target leave the building at a dead sprint, apparently intent on catching up with the disguised demon. "Well," Youko muttered, "We can't have that."

Jumping down from the tree, Youko dashed past the girl. Too fast for human eyes to follow, but just slow enough for whatever supernatural senses she had—Youko still wasn't convinced it was a spiritual sense—would feel him. Sure enough the girl stopped short of her target and turned to look for Youko. The fox thief watched with interest as she instantly zeroed in on the bush he was hidden in. The girl, abandoning her original mission in favor of curiosity, approached the bush, peering through the leafs to try and catch a glance of whatever it was that had startled her so.

Youko's eyes widened. A faint glow, one he had not noticed earlier that day, appeared around the girl. An odd symbol—a crescent moon maybe?—shone faintly on her forehead. His tails flicked as the girl approached, now that he was this close he got the full force of the power he had missed earlier. The amount of raw power she was admitting was staggering.

This girl was no mere human.

"Mina-chan!"

His target looked away from the bush, straightening and turning towards her friend. "Hey Hikaru-chan, I thought you'd left already."

"I had some things to finish for the knitting club." Hikaru explained, "So did you give Higashi-sempai your letter?"

Minako's face crumbled, "Oh no!" the girl cried, dashing out the front gate, her aura and the pressure it exerted disappearing as she stepped away from Youko. The fox leapt to the top of the school's walls, watching Minako look for the disguised-demon. "I can't believe I missed him!"

"It's okay, Mina-chan." Her friend reassured the distraught child, "There's always tomorrow. Maybe you'll catch him in the morning."

This did not seem to reassure his target any but she accepted it and made her way home, leaving her friend with a sad goodbye. Youko followed.

He slunk closer to the girl, lowering his energy to keep himself hidden from her senses. As he got closer he saw the golden aura appear again but when Minako crossed the street ahead of him it disappeared. Now even more intrigued than before, Youko began testing the range of the energy aura. He approached her from different sides, waiting for her aura to appear again before retreating away from it. From what he could tell the girl had no control over the aura—nothing about how it moved or responded to his spiritual prods indicated that she was even aware of it. Instead it only seemed to appear when the fox demon got within three feet of the girl. That was also the range at which he could sense the full depths of her power—or, at least, the potential she had for power.

Youko dropped back as he followed the girl. Maybe there was some kind of seal on her aura, to protect her from the interest of demons and less friendly humans. But if that were the case the seal was either poorly placed or eroding.

'Maybe this will be more interesting than I thought.' Youko reflected later that night as he stood watch outside the girl's home. 'If nothing else this part will certainly be entertaining.' The fox thief smirked as he cleared the street with a single jump. He leapt around the house, searching for a point of entry. Finding a window, he easily scaled the tree that rose along the side of the house and alighted on the window sill. From the tone of the voice and the scent coming from the other side of the glass, he knew he'd found his target. The lock was child's play, literally, and he had slid the window open and slipped inside with his target none the wiser.

Youko sat in the window watching the girl. He wondered briefly if he should just wait for her to sense him but decided the more forward approach would be far more entertaining. The fox waited until she was washing her face before speaking up, "You missed a spot."

Instantly the blonde tensed and spun, her hair sticking to her wet face. At first she said nothing and just stared at the fox, her hands clutching the towel wrapped around her body and her blue eyes the size of saucers.

Youko's lips twitched in a smile.

"Snap out of it, girl, your time might be disposable but mine is not."

Two minutes later Youko sat outside the girl's bedroom. Mildly irritated and oddly entertained, 'She's got good aim.' The fox demon admitted in equal parts admiration and disapproval. What were humans teaching their children these days? A few centuries ago, no one would have even thought of throwing shampoo bottles or soap at a fox demon. He made a mental note to add respect to the list of things he intended to teach his appointed charge.

Shoring up his remaining patience, Youko opened the lock on her bedroom window and slipped inside. Despite his more mischievous urges, he had decided to wait until the girl was properly dressed before invading her territory again.

"Are you quite done being irrational?" he questioned as the girl jumped and spun to face him, brandishing a hair brush in a very unthreatening fashion.

"Just what the hell are you?" she demanded.

Youko's eyes narrowed, "Ignorance is no excuse for rudeness, human. You would do well to address me appropriately."

The girl, though flinching the reprimand, did not back down, "Yeah, well, that would be a lot easier if I knew what you were!" she countered.

Youko rolled his eyes, "There are not so many talking foxes in your mythology to justify that question, human."

"You know, the rudeness thing goes both ways and why am I talking to a fox?" the girl threw her brush on the ground leaving her hair a half brushed mess, and put her hands on her hips, "What are you doing in my room?"

"Regretting every step that brought me to this point." The fox muttered with more resignation than anger. He could sense the anger and confusion rolling off his target and her aura—which he was once again in the range of—was flicking around the edges like fire. Oh it would be so much fun to keep playing with this one; it had been a while since he had encountered anyone this expressive. But that would no doubt make working with her in the future very difficult, and, unfortunately for Youko, he and the girl would be working very closely together.

"Watch." He ordered the girl. He flicked his third tail and there was a small _pop_ as a compact mirror in the shape of a crescent moon appeared between the two. The girl jumped and stepped back, alarmed by the sudden display. "Pick it up." Youko ordered.

She looked between him and the mirror, "Why?"

"There are some times when caution is a great tool, human, especially when you are talking to a demon fox, but now is not one of those times; pick up the compact."

Glaring, the girl did as ordered and scooped up the compact mirror. She examined the gold object, her fingers tracing the intricate design on its front. Youko watched with interest as her aura converged on the object, pulsing around it and growing stronger from the mirror's proximity. He had a general idea of who this girl was, though Koenma's explanation of the mirror's purpose had been meager at best. Youko recognized the compact as a magical artifact but he was more interested in what it did, so he was curious to see how the girl would react to it.

"Its…."

Youko waited, fascinated by the girl's awakening.

"It's so cute!" Minako exclaimed.

Youko fell off the bed.

She was an idiot. An Enma-damned idiot!

"Just open it." He ordered, torn between irritation and amusement.

She complied, though Youko suspected it was more out of her own curiosity than his order. The moment she loosened the clasp on the mirror a burst of light rushed forth from the mirror engulfing both human and fox in its light. When Youko opened his eyes again he found himself held in an orb of power and floating in space.

"W-what's going on here?"

Youko glanced to his left to find the human girl floating beside him, similarly trapped.

"Are we in space? Just what the hell did you do?" she demanded.

Youko shrugged, "If I knew any more than you did, human, I would tell you." That, of course, was an absolute lie, but the girl did not need to know that.

_Aino Minako, my dear Sailor Venus._

The girl jumped, pushing herself to the far side of her orb as she looked about wildly for the source of the voice, "W-Who's there?"

_Sailor Venus, welcome back. You have been awaken again to fulfill your oath._

"What oath?"

Youko cast his golden eyes about their surroundings, "Show yourself."

_I can no more do that than you can return to your true form, Youko Kurama._ The voice answered levelly. Youko glared at the emptiness of space, this was likely one of Koenma's pawns.

The voice addressed the girl:_ Minako, you are blessed with the protection of the fiery plant Venus, your home. As Earth's twin star, you are charged with protecting her from harm. This, my child, is your mission._

"M-my mission?"

Youko looked over at the girl, despite being outside the normal range of her energy he could clearly see it draining away into the compact still clutched in her hands. Her eyes fluttered before she collapsed in a dead faint. The fox sighed, he had been hoping to get through the explanation bit tonight but it looked like this would be a prolonged endeavor.

_Youko Kurama_.

Youko looked back towards space, "Hmm, you are still here then?"

_Yes._

The fox smiled, "You have something more for me?"

_Fox, while I appreciate your help, I cannot help but be…concerned about your involvement._

"Ah, I see." Youko settled down in his orb, his front paws crossed and a smirk on his lips, "The old demon bias still holds true then."

_You can understand my concern. Venus is a force for good and I do not need her heart corrupted by your influence._

Youko smirked, "I would understand but, unfortunately for you, I am currently your best and only option for awakening and protecting your precious warrior." Silence settled between them, as the voice considered Youko's words. Though he could not sense a definite presence onto which to pin the voice, he got the distinct sense that the owner of said voice was very displeased with the situation. His tails swished behind him as he spoke, "Let me explain something to you: the status of my freedom and continued survival are currently contingent upon that girl's survival. I do not leave such important things up to chance. I will guard her to the best of my ability—despite Spirit World's efforts to hinder me as much as possible in that arena—and I _will_ train her as I see fit."

_Careful, fox, your words are tilted dangerously towards a threat._

"I do not deal in the folly of threats." Youko replied, standing once again, "I am only informing you of my own goals and motivations. If anything my words should comfort you, when my tenure as her guardian is up you will have a capable and strong fighter to manipulate to your mission."

_I do not manipulate, fox! This was her choice._

Youko snorted, "I hardly see how a descendent of Venus can be held to the promise her ancestors made long ago."

_That, fox, is where you are wrong. Aino Minako is no mere descendent of the line of Venus. She is the reincarnation of Princess Venus of the Silver Millennium, leader of the Sailor Senshi and Guardian of Princess Serenity of the Moon._

…..

A/N: Hope you enjoyed. Second chapter will be up soon. Please Review! Seriously, I live for that stuff.


	2. Act 1: Sailor V is Born Pt 2

A/N: Part 2 of the first act for Codename: Sailor V. Please remember to review.

Act 1: Sailor V is Born Pt. 2

…..

The next day found Youko once again stalking the blonde on her way to school. Despite the previous night's events, the girl seemed relatively cheerful and upbeat. She was practically sprinting to school—though the fox thief suspected the rush had more to do with the familiar letter clutched in her hands than any desire to learn. It was a nice enough day, warm and bright with plenty of birds out for the fox demon to enjoy as breakfast, but Youko's mind was not focused on the girl or the beautiful day, instead he was reflecting on what he had learned the previous night.

After the Voice's proclamation about the girl's true persona, Youko had been knocked unconscious and returned to the girl's bedroom. Luckily, the fox demon had woken before the girl and left her room to avoid another violent outburst and to give him time to collect his thoughts.

Youko knew that reincarnation was not impossible. There were enough accounts of it over the years to dispel any skepticism that the fox demon might harbor, but he had never heard of such a vast time gap between lives. And now that he knew that his target was more than just the descendent of a long dead royal house, Youko found himself fully interested. There were so many possibilities, so many things he could learn if he helped this girl awaken fully. Not the least of which was information concerning the most sacred treasure of the Silver Millennium: the legendary Ginzuishou.

He might actually have to thank Koenma for this one day.

He wouldn't, of course, but—what was that human saying?—it was the thought that counted?

As they grew closer to the school, Youko took the lead and dashed into the school yard. Springing up on to the roof top, the fox demon did a quick sweep of the school yard. In an instant, he zeroed in on the disguised demon. Yesterday Youko's efforts to keep demon and target separate were passive, today he would be far more active. His target was far more interesting to him now and this demon needed to know where the lines were drawn.

Unfortunately at the moment both he and his target were facing similar problems: the demon in question was surrounded by human females who seemed quite intent on staying by his side. Youko's eyes narrowed as he watched the girls push other students, both male and female out of their way. The fox demon recognized some of the females as the ones the demon had left with yesterday. It was obvious the demon had fed from them, their energy was all but drained, and if Youko squinted he could see small lines from their heads to the demon's hands.

'A puppeteer.'

Unusual but not unheard of, but why order them to hold the other students at bay? Wasn't the whole point of taking on that disguise to get at the humans?

'Wait.' Youko crept closer, 'Is he on a phone?'

A closer look confirmed that the demon was indeed talking on a phone. Youko jumped down to the traitorous tree from the day before so that he was within hearing range.

"I understand you're on a time table but I'm having way too much fun." The demon's tone was obnoxiously aloof. "I refuse to leave until every girl at this school is under my control. Then you can have all of your precious energy."

Youko's ears twitched as he strained to hear the distorted voice coming from the phone's speaker, "_Do not think yourself above punishment, Narcissus. If you do not deliver our masters will be very displeased."_

Youko cocked an eyebrow, 'well, there was nothing subtle about that.'

"_The Dark Kingdom will not tolerate incompetence."_

"Please, Flourite-_sama_," Narcissus scoffed, "your "Dark Kingdom" is all but crippled without me. It might do you well to remember who is dependent on whom in this situation." The demon snapped the phone shut and stuffed it in his trouser pocket. As he looked up, Narcissus found himself staring at a rather unimpressed Youko Kurama.

Narcissus' eyes narrowed and Youko watched with much amusement—and a good deal of satisfaction—as the lower-classed demon shrunk back a step from the fox demon. But the disguised demon seemed to regain his composure and stepped back up a moment later. What happened next left Youko completely floored, "Back off, fox," Narcissus _ordered_, "this is my territory."

The flash in Narcissus's eyes was the only warning Youko got before he was struck by a blast of energy. The fox thief choked down a gasp of pain as he was thrown against the tree, overcome with not only surprise at being attacked but the sheer power behind said attack. Narcissus was a weak demon—weaker than Youko by several centuries of that the fox was certain—there was no way he should be able to command such power.

Youko almost yelped as something hot seared across his chest. It was not fire, Youko had been burned before, no, this burning sensation was different. Youko summoned his own energy, no longer willing to expose himself to further attack. His shield shut down around him and he stared down Narcissus, the challenge quite clear.

"You are a fool." The disguised demon sneered, lifting his hand toward the fox demon, "No amount of power will protect you from the Dark Kingdom."

Once again Narcissus's eyes flashed and a wave of power lashed out towards the fox demon. He expected his shields to hold, to split the wave of energy and prevent another encounter with the burning power.

This time he did yelp when the power once again threw him up against the tree and burned against his chest and right foreleg.

'It's breaking through my defenses!'

His eyes flying wide, the fox demon retreated to the roof of the school, once again hiding himself from Narcissus's senses. Panting, he examined his chest fur to find it was indeed burned as was the underlying skin. "What kind of power was that?"

_That, Youko Kurama, was the power of the Dark Kingdom: the evil that defeated the Silver Millennium._

Youko instantly recognized the voice from last night's unplanned spacewalk, except this time the echoed effect was far more pronounced and definitely originating from somewhere in the back of Youko's mind. Flicking his tail he summoned the golden pen Koenma had given him with the compact mirror that Aino Minako still possessed.

Not giving a thought to how odd it must look, Youko addressed said pen:

"Explain."

_The energy of the Dark Kingdom is not something just anyone—human or demon—can withstand. Only those blessed by the Moon have ever been able to successfully combat its powers._

"Convenient." Youko noted, laying down and crossing his front paws before him, "Making Aino even more important to you than before considering your enemies are already on the move. Having a warrior suffering from amnesia will do no one any good."

_Aino Minako is more important than you understand, fox. The wakening of Venus will not only provide us with a first line of defense but also ensure the awakening of the others._

Youko cocked his head to the side, his brow furrowed.

_Something troubling you, fox?_

"Not entirely." Youko replied evenly, ignoring the Voice's hostility. "I know enough of the Lunar Legends to guess that there must be others like this human, I simply did not expect you to admit it."

The voice was silent for a moment before speaking again: _I may not like our dependence on your good will, Youko, but I appreciate it. I will not let you lead my guardian into battle without knowledge of what you may face._

Youko smirked as he stood, "Ignoring the fact that I was coerced into performing this service, I appreciate your logic." He swept his tail across the pen and it disappeared again.

_What are you doing?_ The Voice inquired.

"Saving your savior." Youko replied, scenting the air for his target. Finding her—she smelled oddly of roses—Youko leapt from the roof top, descending into the thicket of trees at the backside of the school. His eyes narrowed as he landed on the ground: Narcissus was close by as well. He spotted his target instantly, her blonde hair sticking out like a sore thumb against the greenery.

"Voice." Youko spoke and instantly felt the odd presence in the back of his mind. "Her aura, while stronger, clearly indicates that she is still unaware of her powers. What must I do to awaken her?"

…..

Aino Minako was having a seriously weird week. Between perverted foxes with too many tails and one of the tripiest dreams she'd had in a long time, it was a wonder she wasn't holed up at home with a fever of some kind, hallucinating about who knows what. Usually she would have used these events, coupled with a recent spell of dizziness that had persisted all morning, to try and get out of school but she was determined to give Higashi-sempai her letter. Hikaru had informed her that Higashi took lunches alone in the back garden so now was her best chance to talk to him alone and Minako was determined not to miss it.

Pushing her was through bushes that were a lot thicker than she ever remembered; Minako cast about for Higashi but could not find him. In fact, the more she looked the more the garden seemed to close around her, until she could not even see the path she'd come from. Not for the first time did she feel the hairs on the back of her neck prickle and felt her skin itch, clear signs that she was being watched.

Minako did not know why, but ever since she was a child she had an uncanny ability to sense when other people were watching her. On rarer occasions she would get the same reaction when someone spoke ill of her. Neither of her parents displayed these abilities and Minako often wondered if she was actually feeling anything at all or if it wasn't just her mind playing tricks on her.

Consequentially, it was not until a rather familiar silver fox with too many tails stepped out of the undergrowth that Minako paid any serious attention to her senses.

"You again?" she demanded, after getting over her initial shock. "Look I don't know what you want and I really don't care, so just beat it. I'm having a crazy enough day without my hallucinations following me to school."

"Cute." Youko drawled, "You should know by now that this is not a dream or a hallucination, no matter how much you may want it to be, so let's drop the theatrics, shall we?"

Minako glared, "I hardly see why I should do you any favors. Just what do you want with me? Why can't you just leave me alone?"

Youko flicked his third tail, summoning the gold pen once again, "I am afraid we are nowhere near close to being done with each other, Aino Minako."

Minako, though totally freaked out by the sudden display of what appeared to be magic, stood her ground, "Yeah? Well, _I'm_ done! I don't need a creepy stalker fox and a disembodied voice making my life any more difficult. And why am I wasting time talking to a fox anyways?" she stormed past the fox and forced her way through the undergrowth, "I'm done!"

Minako pushed her way through the trees, cursing and kicking and fighting the stubborn greenery. This whole day—heck these last two days—were so beyond messed up! Talking foxes, crazy dreams and now demonic foliage! Seriously it was like the whole universe was plotting against her attempts to confess her love to Higashi!

The foliage gave away suddenly, so suddenly that Minako went tumbling out of the thick undergrowth. Shaking her head and throwing a few choice words at the trees, she stood and looked around.

It only took her a second to find Higashi but his name caught on her tongue as she watched him lean down and claim a girl's lips in a very romantic kiss.

…

A/N: more to come in a bit (gotta do a final read through) Please review!


	3. Act 1: Sailor V is Born Pt 3

A/N: finally we get into the good stuff! Which would be much better if I could write fight scenes. Constructive criticism is more than welcome! We are always learning after all. Please review.

Disclaimers apply.

Act 1: Sailor V is Born Pt. 3

…

Youko sighed as he watched the girl sit under the tree, her arms wrapped tightly around her legs and her face buried in her knees. He needed to reassess how he approached the girl. She was rude, headstrong and irritating but at the end of the day Aino Minako was just a kit. And kits had to be handled…delicately.

With that thought in mind the fox thief switched tactics: he dropped down to the ground in front of her and flicked his first tail. A small seed appeared and dropped into the ground. All it took was a half second of concentration for the small thing to burst forth into a small bush. Youko called out one particular stem and sank his power into it, forcing it to bloom into a beautiful red rose.

A small bark was all it took to get Aino to look up. She blinked in surprise to see the beautiful rose in front of her. "What…?" she looked past the rose towards Youko and her confusion only grew. "Why?"

"I have lived for almost a thousand years." Youko explained, "Even a demon can understand the pain you are feeling."

Minako stared at the fox demon for a moment before turning her tear-free eyes back to the rose. After a moment more her expression softened to a smile. Reaching out, she ran a finger along one of the flower's petals. "Thanks."

Youko marveled at how easy deceiving her was, but then she was only a kit. He could not really fault her for her own naiveté when she'd not been taught better. He certainly did not intend to let that remain an issue though.

"It is nothing, child." Youko assured her as it meant nothing to him, "Shall we start again?"

Minako sat up straighter, resting against a tree, honestly after the day she was having she'd welcome any form of distraction: even if said distraction came from one of those hallucinations that was making her day hell.

Youko waited until she nodded her approval before beginning, "Good. My name is Youko Kurama, I am a spirit fox from the Makai."

At least that was how Youko intended to start off their conversation but he only made it too "Good" before a scream tore through the garden.

"What was that?" the human exclaimed, jumping to her feet and casting about.

Youko summoned his powers, making the trees and bushes shrink back to their normal size. The foliage retracted and revealed the demon, Narcissus, in the middle of draining energy from the girl Youko had seen him enter the garden with earlier. Youko cursed and was just about to drag his human out of there as quickly and silently as possible when the blonde ruined that plan by screaming.

"What are you doing to her?" she screamed and actually ran _towards _the demon and his prey.

Narcissus, his once handsome features contorted into what Youko could only assume was his demonic form, sneered at the charging blonde. He dropped his prey and aimed his hand at the girl, "A hero, how cute."

Minako screamed as the demon's powers slammed into her and crushed her against a tree. Youko cursed as the girl crumpled. An unconscious human was exactly what he did not need. His freedom was contingent on this girl's safety and—if she was not already dead—that job just got exponentially harder.

Already aware that his demonic energy could not stand against the powers of the Dark Kingdom, Youko fed his power into the trees around Narcissus. The trees creaked and groaned as they shifted and sharpened their branches at Youko's will. Gold eyes flashed and the trees bent down sharply, their branches seeking flesh and earth to pierce.

"Damn!" Narcissus snarled and jumped back and away from the attacking trees. He lashed out with his power, severing some of the branches but not all of them.

Youko turned his attention away from the demon, satisfied that he had at least stalled any further attack from the other demon. He looked back at the blonde and was stunned to see her not only awake but struggling to get back to her feet. She should not have been able to move—hell, Youko expected her to be dead.

"How…"

_Youko! Give her the pen!_

"What pen?" Minako demanded as she got to her feet. She was distracted from question though upon catching sight of the demon she once knew as Higashi finishing off the last of the branches. The demon turned its blood red eyes on the odd pair and bared teeth that were far too long and sharp.

Seeing the color drain from her face, Youko quickly summoned the golden pen and threw it at the girl's feet. "Take it!" he ordered, turning his attention back to Narcissus. Hoping the girl would know what to do, Youko launched his second attack. This time though he slammed his power into the grass at Narcissus's feet. The blades of grass sharpened and hardened to a state more like their more deadly namesake. At Youko's command, the grass blades launched themselves from the ground, aimed straight for Narcissus. The puppet demon just laughed and stood his ground.

Youko felt his hair stand on end as the air suddenly crackled with the magnitude of Narcissus's dark energy. The grass blades dissolved in midair, the trees and plants practically screamed as the dark power washed over them burning their leaves to crisps and nearly doing the same to their trunks. In that moment Youko realized that he could not handle this situation. Not for the first time did he curse the Spirit World for sealing a good bulk of his powers away.

He braced himself, prepared for the burning pain of the Dark Kingdom's energy.

But it never came. For at the moment Youko was about to be consumed by the Dark Kingdom's power, the human behind him shouted:

"Moon Power! Make-up!"

Aino Minako's aura exploded. Yellow light erupted from the girl, consuming her in its brilliance. The light swept over Youko leaving him unharmed and collided with the dark energy which dispersed immediately. Youko watched with barely contained awe as the light receded to reveal the girl's transformation.

Gone was her school uniform and in its place was a blue, red and white costume of similar design: her sailor collar and skirt remained blue but her necktie was replaced by a red bow with a gold broach, her white top sported white armor and shoulder guards, and a red mask covered her blue eyes. The light converged on her forehead for a moment before condensing into the shape of a crescent moon. Though Youko thought the outfit looked ridiculous and completely impractical for a fight, he was far too stunned by the amount of power she was generating to comment.

"W-what's going on?" Aino demanded, apparently as shocked by her transformation as Youko.

Youko started to address her only to be interrupted once again by Narcissus. "Die!" the demon screamed as he once again lashed out with dark energy.

This time Youko was not so lucky and took the full force of the attack and was slammed into a tree. Aino gasped and threw up her arms in a futile attempt to protect herself.

Only not so futile it seemed as the dark energy split before her, leaving her unharmed.

This only served to freak the girl out even more and she stumbled further away from Narcissus.

"You fool!" Youko shouted between coughs and gasps for air. "What are you waiting for? Attack!"

"What?" Aino demanded, her eyes wide with more fear that Youko was feeling. "Attack? How?"

The spirit fox cursed, he had expected her memories to be restored with her awakening, he had expected a fully trained warrior, ready to fight the evil that ended her former kingdom. He was left with a powerful but untrained child and a very dangerous demon.

_Youko Kurama._

Oh, and a disembodied voice that seemed to be hanging around the back of his mind. How could he forget that?

"I thought you said she was a warrior!" he snarled, jumping in order to avoid another attack—once again Aino's powers protected her from injury.

_She is, or was, I thought the restoration of her powers would restore her memory but they seem to be locked deeper than I originally assumed. She is too panicked for me to talk to her. You must convey this message to her!_

Youko slipped under another blast of energy—Narcissus had switched to concentrated blasts instead of waves of power, they seemed to have more of an effect on Aino. Each blast forced her back a step and her arms were starting to show the first signs of burns.

"Aino!" Youko shouted as he landed in the tree above her, "Use the mirror I gave you last night!"

"I left it at home!"

"Concentrate on it! It will come when you call." Youko instructed after a moment, relaying the Voice's instructions. He now stood behind the girl, shamelessly using her powers for his own protection as well.

The girl, though fearful, did as she was instructed. She closed her eyes and moment later the mirror appeared in her hands. "What now?" she demanded, looking back at Youko. A fatal mistake as it took her focus away from her instinctive shield.

"Jump!" Youko shouted even as the dark energy collided with the pair and sent them rolling across the ground.

Youko managed use that momentum to regain his feet but Aino only stopped when she collided with a large oak. The fox thief growled, they needed to end this now!

"Open the mirror and point it at him!" he called as the girl struggled to regain her feet, once again showing a resiliency that most humans could never hope for. "Shout: "Crescent Beam"!"

Aino staggered to her feet, bruised and bloodied from the attack. She scrambled to open the compact. "Move!" Youko shouted.

This time both of them cleared the attack, though only barely. The blonde threw herself away from the beam of energy and tucked into a roll. Youko did not know whether that was from sports training or instinct but he was impressed by her reflexes. Aino regained her feet and aimed the now open compact at Narcissus, "Crescent Beam!"

Yellow light in the shape of a moon erupted from the mirror. Narcissus cursed and fired another blast at the incoming attack but all was in vain. The yellow beam blasted through the dark energy and collided with the demon. The beam did not send him flying or throw him against any of the trees: the light tore right through the demon, searing a hole through its heart and leaving a gaping wound behind.

Youko and the girl stared, one in fascination and the other in pure horror as Narcissus stood for a moment, shock on his own face before he collapsed to the ground.

Youko sighed and relaxed. It was over.

Aino did not share in his relief and instead dropped to her knees.

The fox thief stood placidly to the side, watching as the blonde retched and emptied her stomach of her lunch, and reassessed his mission. Aino Minako was strong, of that he had little doubt, but whatever training she'd had in her previous life was locked away with her memories. At the end of the day she was a child and Youko knew he had a lot to teach her if either of them was going to survive.

_She will need more than your guidance to make it through this, Youko Kurama. She will need your friendship as you will come to need hers._

'I am not here to make friends, Voice.' Youko replied, still watching the girl, 'I will remind you again that my services are not offered out of selfless intentions. She will succeed and become the warrior you need, that I promise you, but only because I wish to be free. I will be her mentor but there are no friends in the world in which she now lives.'

Saying that, Youko approached his charge, "Come, stand up, we must go."

Aino Minako did not move and Youko wondered briefly if she could, her shaking arms sure seemed to indicate she could not.

"I…I…I kill—killed him." Minako muttered, her eyes painfully wide and full of tears, "Higashi-sempai…I killed him…he's dead…"

Youko's eyes narrowed. He understood that most humans were sensitive to killings. In demon world a first killing was nothing except a proof of the strength to survive. A part of life and nothing more, but humans were different. Life did not typically require killing others for self-preservation. Unfortunately for Aino Minako her life was now dependent on her ability to kill.

"Yes, you did kill him." Youko asserted, "But if you had not he would have killed you and your classmate."

"I-I didn't know…I didn't know it would kill him!" Aino looked at the fox, her eyes wide and desperate. Searching, searching for something. Youko was surprised to realize she was seeking forgiveness, from him of all people!

Reminding himself he was dealing with a child, Youko placed a paw on her hand, "He's dead and nothing will change that. But you are alive and that is good." Youko dug a claw into her hand, making her start and stare at him, "We do not have time for foolishness. You cannot mourn an enemy's death for I assure you he would have celebrated yours. You are no longer a mere human child, you are a warrior. Fighting and killing is now a part of your life."

"I don't want to be a warrior! I don't want to kill!" she screamed, lashing out at Youko who stepped out of her range.

"You are old enough to know that life is not so kind to bend to our desires, Aino Minako. Believe me, I know that better than you think." Youko stepped closer to her, keeping his eyes focused on hers, "You must learn to accept this or you will die as Narcissus did today. What good will you do anyone then?"

"How can I go home?" she demanded, despair replacing the panic in her eyes, "How can I face my family?"

"You are alive, are you not? Do you wish to keep living?"

The blonde nodded.

"Then you can face them."

Aino Minako stared at him for a moment before swallowing hard and nodding. She wiped her eyes and nose as she stood, pointedly avoiding Narcissus's dead form. "We should help Himura-sempai."

Youko looked towards the unconscious human female, "We shall take her to the infirmary and then return to your home. You need rest."

Nodding, Minako went over to her fellow student and picked her up in her arms. She seemed surprised by her own strength. The girl paused, "What…Who am I now?"

_You are Sailor V._ the voice spoke in both their minds, _Guardian of the weak and the emissary of justice_.

Aino paled momentarily before shaking her head and regaining her composure. "And who are you?" she asked, addressing the fox demon.

Youko leapt up to a branch beside her so they were eye level, "I am Youko Kurama."

Aino studied him before nodding slowly, "Aino Minako….Sailor V."

….

A/N: Well, that's the first Arc! This story's not as popular as my Merlin one but I do intend to continue it, so there. I hope you enjoyed and please let me know how I can improve on writing Youko, he's not easy to write.

Thanks and please review!


	4. Act 2: Ace of Cards Pt 1

A/N: And, I'm back! Sorry this has taken so long but let me explain: I will not post a new chapter until I finish an "Act." Acts can have multiple chapters (usually around 3). This Act was going to be much longer (we were going to go through Petite Pandora) but I realized I needed to split it up.

And, in case you're wondering, no I'm not trying to fool anyone with the title.

Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor V or Yu Yu Hakusho. I did write this story though, it's my incarnation of Sailor V.

Enjoy.

Codename: Sailor V and the Thief

Youko Kurama has been captured, a botched robbery spelling the end of his infamous crime spree. He is scheduled for execution but before the sentence can be carried out, Koenma approached the jaded spirit fox with the chance to save himself but at what cost?

…

Act 2: Ace of Cards Pt 1

Eight am on a Sunday and Minako Aino was ready to throw the whole day under her "worst days _ever_" category. The fourteenth day in two weeks to be filed so. Her reasons for giving up on the day were as follows: 1st she was awake. Second, she was awake and had been so since five am—an ungodly hour for anyone and damn near blasphemous for Minako. Third, she was awake, had been for several hours, and did not even have the benefit of a good night's sleep to soften the offensive hour. Instead of her "dead-to-the-world" sleep that had been the standard since she was a babe, Minako had spent the last few nights tossing and turning between the grip of two competing nightmares. Nightmares that were different but still kept her up at night: one made no sense to her, the other made far too much sense. She liked to dwell on neither.

"You're not focusing."

Oh, and the fourth, but not least, reason for despising this whole day was the snappish white fox that, by the way, was also a demon and, let's not forget, was also the root cause of all aforementioned reasons.

"I'm focused." Minako grumbled, her eyes remaining closed.

"You're focused on your aching legs and sore back." Youko replied, his tone cold and his manners as unsympathetic as ever. "Neither of which you would notice if you were focused on your power. Of course, if you continue to insist on conducting yourself in such a manner we could skip this training and leave you unprepared to face your enemies. They'll make sure you won't have to complain about either ever again."

Minako scowled, "Or, I could just kick their sorry asses like I did with that group we fought yesterday."

"Yes, because the perverted, demon-possessed-human was a prime example of the strength and cunning of your enemy." Youko's voice was ever so slightly strained. Minako smiled, she considered every strained nerve in the fox's patience to be a small victory.

"How about you concentrate more and meditate for the both of us." Minako suggested, "And I'll do all the real work, you know, the saving the world and such."

"People who lack the understanding and patience to focus on their true powers always try and over compensate with physical prowess. However, I doubt even my vast intellect can bear the weight of your slack."

"You're just pissed because you're still useless in a fight."

"I have no qualms sending you to battle alone, human. The sooner you get yourself killed the better for me."

_Liar._ Minako wanted to say but bit her tongue—Youko was certainly no better off if Minako failed, the "higher power" that forced them into their strained partnership had made that quite clear. _Whether you like it or not you need me alive, Youko, and you know it._

….

"So you're my mentor?" Minako asked, sitting across from the demon fox.

"That's the task assigned to me." Youko Kurama replied, his teeth clicking oddly as he spoke.

The fox demon had disappeared the night after Minako had fought and killed the demon Narcissus. His disappearance had come as something of a blessing to Minako. It gave her the solace she so desired. She shut herself in her room and refused to leave or talk to anyone. His second day of absence Minako began to hope that maybe, just maybe, the whole thing had been some twisted fever-induced dream. Then she woke on the third day to find said hope shattered by Youko's lithe form perched on her windowsill.

Hence they were both now settled down on her carpet as Youko explained, well, everything. Now it was time for Q&A, Minako having all the Qs and Youko with all the As.

Minako's cocked head communicated her confusion, "Who assigned you to me?"

"The Spirit World."

Minako stared, "The…Spirit World?"

"The world of the dead." Youko replied, "The place where all souls go after they die for judgment."

"Oh." Minako muttered, not quite sure how to respond to that. "So there is a heaven and hell then?"

"Of a sort, yes."

Minako fell silent, her blue eyes studying her carpet. For some reason the confirmation that there was in fact a heaven and a hell did not seem as astounding as it probably should be. "And, this…Spirit World, assigned you to be my mentor?"

"We covered that already, child."

"Right, well, then why did they assign _you_?" Minako asked, trying to keep from whining.

Youko snorted at the question. Minako translated that as a laugh, a very dry, humorless laugh. "Convenience."

"You didn't want the job, then?" Minako felt oddly numb and she did not know why.

"No." Youko replied, "I did not."

Minako's temper flared so suddenly she almost shook with it. She certainly understood how annoying assignments could be, especially when you really did not want to do them—like homework, for instance. But this seemed different somehow, why assign someone a mentor who did not want to take on the job in the first place!

"Then why'd you take it?" she demanded, "If you didn't want to help me in the first place, then why waste your time?"

Youko studied her for a moment, his golden eyes locked with her blue ones as he considered his answer. Minako wondered briefly if he would lie but dismissed the thought, if he was going to lie to her then why be honest at all?

"It was my best alternative."

"What do you mean?" Minako asked, knowing full well she would not like the answer. "Best alternative" was not the most flattering way to be referenced.

"Spirit World presented me with two options upon my capture, help awaken your powers or face execution. You were the obvious preference to the latter options."

Minako felt her temper bubble past the sting of her mentor's words. "Well, your job is done now, right? My powers are wide awake thanks to you and that Voice, so why not leave?"

Youko's tails flicked lazily behind him as he explained, "The terms of my contract with Spirit World extend beyond awakening your powers. I am now your guardian, responsible for your training and continued survival. If you die I will share that fate. For the time being, Aino Minako, our lives are linked."

Minako felt her cheeks redden. She was furious and could not fully explain why. Youko Kurama clearly did not care for or about her. He had to be press ganged into the service in the first place, a service he termed as being the "best alternative" to death. Tears pricked at the back of her eyes and Minako scrubbed at them to banish the angry droplet.

She had killed at his command! Killed the first guy he'd ever had a real crush on! She blasted a hole through his body, watched his blood spill across the ground and splatter the green garden with deep red. Red that she still saw every time she closed her eyes and a scream that kept her from sleeping at night. The least he could do was feign some form of investment in this!

"Yeah, well, next time I guess you shouldn't be so careless as to get yourself caught." She snapped, standing and glaring down at the indifferent fox, "Then you won't have to put up with alternatives like me!"

…..

Needless to say, things had been tense between the unwilling partners ever since that conversation.

Minako trained with Youko—her fear of the demons outweighed her anger with the fox—but she'd be damned if she was going to make any part of their partnership easy for him.

It was childish, yes, and most certainly foolish. Youko's training could be the difference between victory and ending up like Narcissus or any of the other Dark Kingdom demons she'd fought thus far. But the more Youko pointed this out the more stubbornly defiant Minako grew. Albeit it was a trifle defiance, primarily consisting of snappish reminders of Youko's own shortcomings and making training as difficult as possible. Some secret part of her wanted him to regret not choosing the "latter" option.

"Aino! Focus!" Youko snapped, finally losing his patience with the girl.

Minako's triumph though was short lived as the blades of grass under her sharpened.

"Ow! Damn it!" Minako yelped, jumping clear of the patch of razor sharp grass. Her legs were not laced with several dozen small cuts, each smearing blood across her legs, "That hurt!"

Youko showed no remorse as he too stood, "If you had been focused you would have felt the attack coming and saved yourself a few band aids."

"And if you weren't such a grumpy old fart, I _might_ be more inclined to try!"

Youko's golden eyes narrowed and Minako could not repress a shiver of fear. Despite her attitude and despite his small form, Youko Kurama was still a demon and still very powerful.

"Your enemies can and will strike at any moment, Aino, and unless you want to end up dead I suggest you put aside your pride and do as I say."

Yeah, that wasn't going to help. Minako's temper erupted like the proverbial volcano, "Oh, yeah, you lecturing _me_ on pride is rich, Youko-_chan_." She sneered, glad to see him twitch as her the suffix choice, "You know what? I'm done. I'm going back to bed." She spun and stormed away from the fox and the park forest where they had been meditating…er, attempting to meditate.

This was how their last three training sessions had ended. Most of the time the two did not fight—well, okay, most of the time Minako tried to start fights and Youko just ignored her. Outside their training they avoided conflict by simply not talking, Minako decided they must be the most dysfunctional mentor-student pair ever. And at this rate the Dark Kingdom was going to swat Sailor V aside like a gnat and just walk all over the Earth.

Minako sighed as she crawled back into bed. Of course she did not want the Dark Kingdom to win, she really didn't, but she could not stand Youko for more than a few hours of training a week—they passed that quota about two days ago. He was cold and unemotional and so proud and high and mighty and, just, ugh!

Minako felt her skin itch just thinking about his condescending stare, the one that made her feel like an ant when really he was the one who needed her! He would be dead without her! Dead on all accounts, either by Spirit World's hands or the hands of the Dark Kingdom. Hell, he didn't have to be grateful but he could be nice or, at the very least, pretend that training her was not some ball and chain. As far as Minako was concerned, the demon fox could just clear out. She would manage on her own—at least that's the lie she told herself.

As much as she hated to admit it she relied on Youko's training. Already she could feel herself growing stronger and more powerful, fighting the demons they encountered—whether they be Dark Kingdom or otherwise—was easier. Minako was faster and stronger and better as both Sailor V and Aino Minako—her volleyball stats were through the roof and no one could keep up with her in gym class! She loved the feeling her new powers gave her.

And, to be fair, Youko wasn't completely heartless; he often took the burden of actually killing the demons they encountered once Minako had taken them down.

She was grateful for that

Despite all that though she still held firm to her lie that she did not want nor need Youko Kurama.

It was a moot point though. Youko had made it quite clear that he was no more a volunteer in this than Minako.

"Why couldn't Spirit World just find someone else?" Minako wondered, turning over in her bed to face the window where her compact mirror still sat from a night of charging under the moon. "Why Youko? And why me?"

It seemed both of them were prisoners of some greater will.

….

A/N: not going to lie, I had a real hard time writing this chapter. A lot of introspective stuff and Minako's going through some crazy times. I can only imagine how confused she is emotionally about this whole situation and I tried to make that come across without spelling it out.

Part 2 will be here next week!

Please review!


	5. Act 2: Ace of Cards Pt 2

A/N: Another short chapter. And if anyone has feedback as to how I'm writing Youko I'd appreciate it. He's not an easy character to write.

Menooshuh: Thank you for the review! I'm going to see this one through to the end!

Starfool: So many great questions! I'm glad you're so interested but I'm not giving anything away yet ;D That would spoil the fun!

reven228: Thank you! I hope you enjoy the updates as much as the first chapters!

Guest (1): I'm glad you're enjoying the crossover! It's way too fun to write. These chapters should answer your questions about how Youko's going to fight. :P

Guest (2): Thank you!

Black888Rose: Thank you so much for the review! I tried to cut down the details this time around though I'm afraid it might have made my writing kind of awkward… :P Please let me know what you think!

…..

Act 2: Ace of Cards Pt 2:

"And none of the girls remember anything about what happened." Amano continued eagerly as he followed Hikaru and Minako down the hall and into their classroom. "The doctor says they'll need a few more weeks before they'll be released from the hospital and—"

"Amano, how do you know so much about this?" Hikaru demanded, glaring suspiciously at their classmate.

"I have an older brother who works as a nurse at the hospital and he—"

"So basically you've been stalking poor Haneda-sempai and the others."

"What? No I haven't, I'm just trying to keep the school well informed!" Amano protested.

"You're spreading rumors, Amano." Hikaru persisted as they all took their respective seats.

Amano pouted, "I only did it because Minako-chan asked me to."

"Minako-chan!"

Minako blinked and looked up at her best friend, "What?"

"You asked Amano to spy for you?!"

Minako sighed and glanced out the window, "It's nothing, Hikaru-chan. I just…wanted to make sure they were okay."

"Minako-chan, seriously, you've been obsessing way too much over this situation with Higashi-senpai and the others." Hikaru's voice was an odd mix of frustration and empathy. Minako said nothing and Hikaru's expression softened further, "Minako-chan, I know you liked him but you act as though this were your fault."

Minako did not break her silence.

"Speaking of Higashi-senpai, have you two been interviewed yet?" Amano asked.

Hikaru shook her head, "No, neither of us have though I don't see why they would interview underclassmen. You'd think they'd just ask his classmates."

"Except for the fact that his whole family's gone too! Their house is abandoned and no one knows what happened to them. And they still haven't identified that weird body in the garden! So they really have no option but to interview everyone at school." Amano's words came rushing out of his mouth, his excitement obvious. "It's turning into the biggest man hunt in a decade!"

"Amano, seriously! How do you get all this info?!"

"Well, I have another brother in the police force and—"

Minako stood suddenly, startling both her friends. "I'm going to run to the bathroom." She muttered, all but dashing out of the classroom.

Maybe she should have taken today off. It was a Monday after all. Even before her life got turned upside down by demon foxes and magic disembodied voices, Mondays were always a day of evil.

She did not go to the restroom. Instead she found a relatively empty stretch of hall and settled herself in front of one of the many windows. It was no accident that this hall overlooked the school's small garden. Minako, against all logic, spent a lot of time staring out at this garden. She never went in it—in fact she avoided that side of the school grounds—but she could not stay completely away.

She didn't know why she watched over the green garden. She just did.

It certainly did not make her feel better to watch over the garden where she'd first taken a life. It didn't really hurt either. In a way it just worked to put things into perspective.

She just wasn't sure how much she liked the perspective she got.

"Aino Minako?"

Minako turned to see a young man in a police uniform staring at her. She blushed, jeez he was hot! And damn, when did police uniforms get to sexy?

The officer stepped closer, "Are you Aino Minako?"

"Uh, y-yes." Minako managed, straightening to face the man.

He nodded, "I'm Special Officer Toshio Wakagi, would you have time to answer a few questions?"

Minako tensed almost automatically, "Is this about Higashi-senpai?" the garden felt particularly intense all of a sudden and sweat trickled down her back.

"Yes." Officer Wakagi replied, flipping open his notebook, "It is our understanding that you intended to present him with a love letter in the days leading up to his disappearance."

"T-that's right." Minako muttered, fidgeting and trying control her rising panic. She'd been hoping to avoid questioning by the police. She was never a great liar and she did not doubt it would be harder when dancing about a subject as sensitive as murder.

Something tickled the back of Minako's mind. Immediately she was struck by the scent of roses and smoke.

'_Don't blow this, human.'_

Anger replaced anxiety: stupid, irritating, condescending fox! She could handle one police officer!...maybe "I never managed to give it to him." She informed said officer, her voice still quiet but much stronger now than before. "He…disappeared before I could."

The officer nodded. "And how long had you known him?"

Minako shrugged, avoiding the officer's eyes, "I-I didn't really know him all that well."

Wakagi looked up, his eyebrows rising, "And yet you were going to give him a love note?"

Minako's cheeks flushed an even darker shade of red but with anger this time, "I admired him." She snapped, "He…he was just perfect, you know?"

"So I keep hearing." The officer replied. Minako's eyes snapped back to the man but could see no distaste in his eyes, just the cool glaze of professionalism. She was reminded of a certain fox demon and instantly found she liked the officer less. "You haven't had any contact with him since his disappearance?"

"I barely had any contact with him before his disappearance!" Minako snapped, once again looking away from the officer, tears creeping into her eyes. "So why would he contact me afterwards?" That was the worst part of all this, she'd been so crazy in love a boy who'd barely given her the time of day and she felt foolish for missing him. Especially considering he'd turned out to be a bloodthirsty demon. One she'd killed.

The first of many.

"Are we done?" she asked, rubbing her eyes.

Wakagi studied her for a second longer before nodding, "Yes, Aino-san, we're done. Thank you for answering my questions."

"You're welcome. Have a good day." Minako muttered before retreating down the hall.

Yeah, Mondays were definitely evil.

….

Youko Kurama's white fur blended perfectly with the white tiles atop Aino's school. He basked in the warm sun and tried to deny his stress. Youko hated to admit feeling stressed, that would mean he'd lost control. And Youko hated losing control of anything. But in this thrice cursed deal there was nothing left for him to control.

_The training is not going well._

Youko suppressed a groan—legendary fox thieves do not get irritated enough to groan, at least Youko did not. "Your deductive skills continue to astound."

_Fox, we do not have time for these childish outbursts._

"Tell that to your savior."

_You know she is blocking my attempts to communicate with her._

"Something I would be able to do if not for Spirit World's interference." Youko muttered, the resignation in his voice outweighing the irritation. The fox demon accepted his handicap—he was not one to dwell or brood over inconveniences—but that did not mean he had forgiven Spirit World's meddling. "But for now I am stuck listening to your complaints."

_At this rate you will both end up dead._

"I do not disagree." Youko replied, cracking a golden eye, "But I can only do so much with your savior. She'll have to accept responsibility for her failures eventually."

_We cannot risk that, fox!_

Youko flinched as pain lanced through his head, a painful reminder that the disembodied Voice had some power to wield. _She must be prepared for what lies ahead! Too much of the future relies on her success! You must make her focus!_

Youko stood up and stretched, choosing to ignore the Voice's outburst.

_Youko Kurama!_

Really there was nothing he could do about the human's disinterest in training. He knew from his own experience that one could not force an ignorant pup to take life seriously. A pup must experience life's cruelties first hand, and, if they survived those cruelties, adapt to ensure its continued survival. Aino was sufficiently scared of death and what demons could do but she had no losses to drive home just how dangerous her enemies were.

What's more, she still refused to tap into her full potential. After killing the shape shifter, Aino had out right refused to make use of the "Crescent Beam" attack, by far the strongest—and only—celestial attack in her arsenal.

Youko did not want to stake his own life on Aino surviving her first major loss. He'd rather drive it home on his own terms but the Voice was right in that they were running short on time. Every day Youko could feel the dark energy of the Dark Kingdom growing and spreading throughout the city. The number of Dark Kingdom-controlled demons was increasing as well.

Speaking of which…

Youko slipped into the school and found the blonde human standing alone in a hall on the third floor. Her eyes trained on the garden below.

"Human."

She jumped and spun. Her eyes narrowed as they landed on Youko, "Youko-_chan_."

Suppressing a growl, Youko's tails flicked towards the exit, "We have work."

She did not move for a second, her eyes drifting back towards the garden. Then she spun on her heel and took off towards the door, "Let's get this over with, I've got class."

….

Sailor V flopped down on the rooftop with a sigh. They'd taken care of the demons, two of them, in fact. Both had been close to the school and neither demon had much to boast by way of strength so the whole thing was over pretty quickly.

At the moment, Sailor V was riding the proverbial roller coaster of emotions that came after a fight.

The most confusing of which was gratitude. Youko had once again taken the responsibility of the final blow from her. Despite her cruel jabs, the fox demon's powers were not completely useless against the minions of the Dark Kingdom. His physical attacks were just as deadly as ever; if the opponent could not react in time to defend themselves.

'He is surprisingly thoughtful about the whole thing too.' Sailor V reflected, her eyes drifting across the sky with the clouds, 'He always lets me leave before he kills them, so I wouldn't have to watch. And he's even taking care of the bodies since I won't use the Crescent Beam on them.'

'Or maybe he was just giving himself some privacy while he had an afternoon snack.'

"Okay, ew." Sailor V declared, sitting up and sticking out her tongue, "That is a mental image I did not need."

V stood and stretched, "And on that note, I'm heading back to class."

She raised her hand to release her transformation when a loud screech made her jump and spin around, her body falling into a defensive stance that was far too natural.

"What the—?"

Sailor V and the young couple—who were apparently skipping class in favor of more intimate activities—stared at each other in stunned silence for the space of a minute.

Then the girl whipped out her cell phone and Sailor V jumped off the roof, disappearing over the edge.

…

"I can't believe it!"

Youko twitched, "Nor can I; I thought only sirens could hit the notes you just managed."

Minako rounded on the fox demon, "Totally not the time, Youko-_chan_!"

"If you are referring to your overreaction then I agree." The fox demon drawled from where he sat on the blonde's bed.

"I am not overreacting!" Minako snapped, furiously attacking her hair with her brush, "I mean of all the pictures to take! That timing can't have been a coincidence!"

"I reiterate: you are overreacting."

"There's a picture of my underwear going around the school, fox!"

"Technically it's Sailor V's underwear." Youko countered. He personally found the situation rather hilarious, but then he was a trickster by nature.

Minako glared, "Yeah, well, in case you've forgotten: I am Sailor V!" she slammed her brush on the counter, "Besides, aren't we supposed to be keeping this whole 'Dark Kingdom' thing on the "down low"?" she asked, using far too many air quotes.

Youko quirked a furry eyebrow, "I never recall making that a priority."

Minako frowned, "Don't play dumb, Youko-chan, you and the Boss were discussing it just last week. You agreed that if humans knew they'd probably start a riot because we're all apparently, and I quote, "a bunch of sniveling field mice prone to panic and cowardice"." She finished with more air quotes.

Youko was silent for some time before smiling wickedly at the girl, "So, you can still hear the Voice."

The blonde froze, her cheeks flushing as she realized she'd been caught.

"I didn't think you were powerful enough to block out the calls." Youko commented, looking pleased as punch to have caught the girl in her lie. "So, you've just been ignoring it and leaving it to be my headache?"

Minako was torn between denying everything and praying the ground would swallow her whole. Deciding to play the safe middle ground, Minako ignored the situation as she had been ignoring the Boss for the last few weeks, "Well, the main point of this conversation is that I'm wearing spandex from now on!" she declared, climbing in bed.

The fox demon let her slip away from the conversation knowing he would have his revenge for her deception later when he passed on the intel to the all annoying Voice.

Content with his coming vengeance, Youko settled himself on her dresser top, his eyes—now free of mirth—fixed on the blonde. Minako climbed into bed and tried to ignore the stare, she really did but damn even his glare was annoying!

"I'm not doing it." She growled.

"You need to meditate."

"Don't care."

"You'll get us both killed."

"Still kicking ass, so I really don't care."

"You're purposefully avoiding this part of your training."

"Well done, genius, did you figure that out on your own?"

Youko's glare intensified and snarled, "Be it on your head then, child."

Minako felt a light breeze on her face as Youko disappeared through the window by bed. She wondered briefly how the fox demon managed to open the window without the use of opposable thumbs but just as quickly dismissed the thought for favor of sleep.

…..

A/N: Part 3 will be available next week! Please review!


	6. Act 2: Ace of Cards Pt 3

A/N:

Black888Rose: XD I'm trying to do better on updates I swear! (though you might have to wait a while for Act 3, sorry! A lot needs to happen in that Act). Thank you so much for the kind review though! It's fun switching back and forth between Youko and Minako for their respective opinions on their situation so I'm glad you liked it too! (and, yeah, the "hot police guy" thing was mostly to try and keep Minako in character—she is still a young teenage girl—but don't worry it won't serve as much outside of minor comic relief throughout the story).

Menooshuh: Your review was so incredibly helpful! You're right, Youko shouldn't think like a human and ever since you wrote that I'm so much more confident with writing him in Act 3. (and it sparked the rewrite for a lot of this chapter). Thank you so much!

Last chapter of this act. Longer than the others but with much more action so I hope you all enjoy!

…

Act 2: Ace of Cards Pt3:

"Hey, Minako-chan! Are you listening?"

"I think she fell asleep again."

"Again! She fell asleep three times during class, once standing up!"

"M' up." Minako grumbled, glaring at her friends from beneath an arm.

Hikaru frowned, "What's wrong, Minako-chan? You've been tired all day."

Minako sat up and yawned, trying not to think of the ungodly hour Youko woke her up at as retribution for not meditating the night before. "Late night." She muttered.

"Well are you feeling up to another one?" Ayumi asked, grinning and waving a set of tickets.

The blonde's eyes lit up, "You bet!" she cheered, "I still can't believe you got these tickets, Ayumi-chan!"

Ayumi grinned as she handed out the tickets to her friends, "Well my mom is coordinating the whole event, so she was able to score some extra tickets for us."

"This is going to be the best concert ever!" Fumiko agreed, "To think, we're going to see Pandora live!"

"And we get to go back stage!"

"And maybe while we're there we'll be scouted too!"

"You're dreaming, Minako-chan!" Hikaru and the others laughed.

"So what? If a girl doesn't dream, what else has she got?" Minako protested. She put her foot on her chair and raised her fists, "It's my dream to become an idol! I'll dazzle the world with my amazing songs!"

"We lost her again." Ayumi declared with a sigh.

"Another proclamation of the greatness of Mina-chan." Fumiko agreed with an exasperated smile. "Seriously, when is she going to give it a rest?"

Hikaru giggled as Minako continued her rant, "Yeah, but at least she's acting normal again."

Fumiko smirked, "We're sure that's a good thing?"

….

Minako glanced at the silver fox for the umpteenth time that night. She did not know if the fox was aware of her constant glances but if he was she was getting very irritated with him ignoring her. She clipped in her earrings before rounding on the fox, "So you're not going to say anything?"

"I'm sorry, were you expecting conversation? I'm afraid I've reached my stupidity quota for the month." Youko drawled, not bothering to open his eyes.

"Fine." Minako turned back to her mirror with a huff, "Not like I need your approval anyways."

Grabbing her purse she hustled out of her room, refusing to acknowledge the fox and the queasy feeling in her gut. No, she definitely did not need the fox's approval. The pretentious little prick could take a long walk off a short cliff for all she cared. And her stomach was _not_ sick with fear.

"C'mon, Mina-chan! Let's go!" Hikaru called from her mom's car.

Minako did not need Youko's approval. She did not need his protection. And she definitely did not want to see him lurking around at the concert. It would be nice to get away from the nights filled with murderous demons. Minako could not remember the last time she had relaxed and while she doubted she would really be able to relax tonight, she would at least have a night off from the nightmare that her life had become.

"Sorry I'm late!" Minako exclaimed as she climbed in the car, grinning like a fool.

"You look great, Mina-chan!" Hikaru exclaimed.

"So do you, Hikaru-chan."

Everything was so complicated now. Minako's heart ached for her old life, when odd noises of the night did not send her heart racing or her hands scrambling for her transformation pen. Even walking outside took a feat of courage and no one understood why the she jumped at shadows. She could not explain her new reality to her friends, could not seek comfort from her fears in her parents' arms; she could not tell them of the demons that sought her life.

Demons and monsters, after all, were supposed to exist only in the world of fairytales or horror stories; they were not supposed to be real.

"Here's your ticket, Mina-chan." Ayumi chirped as she passed out the tickets.

If she were being honest with herself, she was immensely grateful for Youko Kurama's help—he was the first, and only, person of this demonic new world not actively seeking her death.

"We're here!" Fumiko cried, jumping out of the car and all but pulling Minako with her.

She did not need Youko's approval, she need not need him to lurk around the concert tonight in order to keep an eye on her.

But she would feel a hell of a lot safer if he did.

…..

Youko had remained silent after Minako's outburst; surprised by the emotions he felt radiating from her. The girl wore her emotions on a sleeve, it was easy to tell what was on her mind, so Youko was a little taken aback when he sensed that, in a way, she wanted his approval.

No, not his approval, but his companionship. His protection. She was scared, though she would not admit it. Even stepping out her door took an act of courage these days. The dangers of the world were far more real to her now then ever before and while she most certainly hated Youko (a very mutual sentiment) she also appreciated—no, depended on his presences.

Though Youko made no comment on his observation he frowned inwardly: only the weak relied on others for protection. If he wanted to survive this whole ordeal, Aino could not be weak. Youko could still kill the Dark Kingdom's pawns—a minor blessing in this mess of a situation—but was absolutely helpless against Dark Energy. He needed to have a strong student, one who could survive or function without him.

Unfortunately for the fox demon, his human was very much weak.

Humans, he decided, coddled their young too much.

If a cub did not learn to eat meat, it died. If it did not learn to hunt, it died. If it could not identify danger, it died. Nature had a way of weeding out the strong from the weak. Aino could be strong but not with Youko there. It was time for this cub to hunt alone.

Youko curled up on Aino's bed. The demonic energy swirling around the concert location was strong but nothing Aino could not handle. The girl would need to fend for herself tonight.

…

Minako was having the time of her life! They were still in the middle of one of the opening acts and the group (three male singers called the Dark Guys) was amazing! Minako had already decided to buy their CD after the show. She glanced over at her friends who were dancing along with the song and smiled. This is what life should be about as a 14 year old. Idols, concerts, dancing and friends!

Minako should be having the time of her life.

Except for the stomach ache.

"Mina-chan, are sure you are okay?" Hikaru asked for the umpteenth time. "You don't look well."

Minako smiled, "I'm fine, Hikaru-chan." Her stomach lurched again and she winced, "I-I think I'll run to the restroom though."

"Okay, I'll come with you."

"You don't have to, Hikaru-chan. You'll miss the show and I'll be right back." Minako promised, already moving towards the restrooms.

Hikaru ignored her friend's protest, "We should stick together, Mina-chan. I couldn't stand it if anything happened to you."

Something warm spread through Minako's heart. Hikaru had always been her best and closest friend. Ever since this Sailor V nonsense started they had barely had time to hang out. Truth be told Minako had been avoiding a lot of her friends as of late. It hurt to be alone but it was the easiest way to avoid awkward questions about her sudden mood shifts. Now though, seeing Hikaru's concerned blue eyes, Minako could not imagine wanting to be alone ever again.

She turned away to hide the tears that pricked at her eyes, "Thanks, Hikaru-chan."

After a valiant, and epic, struggle through the crowd, the girls stood in a surprisingly vacant bathroom. Minako washed her face as she tried to shake off the nausea. "Maybe it was something I ate." She muttered, staring at her pale face in the mirror.

"Or you could just be tired." Hikaru pointed out, "You don't seem to be getting a lot of sleep lately." Minako shot her friend a confused look and Hikaru smiled, "I know you don't like school, Mina-chan, but you never used to sleep through classes like you do now."

Minako winced—more from another pang in her stomach than the observations of her sharp friend, "Yeah, I guess I've been staying up too late recently." She stared at the water in the sink. Her watery reflection stared back. With a sigh she pulled the plug and let the water drain into the pipes, "Maybe I should go home. I don't want to ruin your night by keeping you in the bathroom during the concert."

Hikaru placed a hand on her shoulder, "Spending time with you is never a waste of time, Mina-chan."

Once again warmth captured Minako's heart and she suddenly felt incredibly strong. She hugged Hikaru, "You're amazing, Hikaru-chan. I don't know if I ever say it, but you're my best friend. Thank you so much."

Hikaru returned the hug, "You're my best friend too, Mina-chan." She hesitated and then pulled away, "Which is why I want you to be honest with me."

Mina frowned, "Okay."

"Mina-chan, something's been bothering you lately. You've never avoided the others and me before and I feel like I'm losing you. I know you've been sad since Higashi-sempai died but I feel like it's something else." Minako froze, her heart thudding painfully in her chest as she stared at her best friend, "We're friends, Mina-chan, you know you can tell me anything. I've been so worried about you lately but never could find the right way to say this. Please tell me what's been bothering you, Mina-chan. Maybe I can help."

Minako's mouth worked furiously but no sounds came out. Hikaru had always been perceptive but this…Could she tell her? It would be so nice to have someone, anyone, besides Youko and the Voice to talk to! She could trust Hikaru, right? They were best friends. Hikaru would know what to do and say.

"I—"

A scream split the air, making both girls jump.

"What was that?!" Hikaru asked.

Minako lead the way out the door and back into the barren halls of the arena where the concert was being held. Only, the halls weren't empty anymore: people were flooding out of the arena, screams echoing around them as they fought to get out.

"What's going on?!" Hikaru screamed, grabbing Minako's sleeve.

"I-I don't know." Minako managed, her eyes fixed on the looks of absolute terror that twisted peoples' faces. Her vision blurred for a moment, visions of similar terror flashing before her eyes before the world slammed back into place. She stumbled as someone crashed into her.

"Mina-chan!"

"I-I'm okay, Hikaru-chan." Minako muttered, straightening back up. She blinked, trying to clear her head. Why was it suddenly so quiet?

"Let's get out of here, Mina-chan!" Hikaru cried, pulling at her friend's sleeve but to Minako her shout sounded distant.

_"Venus!"_

Minako grabbed her head. "Who?"

_"Venus! Help me!"_

Minako looked towards the arena.

"Mina-chan?"

Minako took off running in the opposite direction of the crowd.

"Mina-chan!" Hikaru's cries grew more distant as she was swept away by the crowd.

Minako turned the corner of the hall and found her way into the arena through a facility door. She opened the door into a stadium of chaos: all around her people were screaming and fighting to get out. Below, in the mash pit at the base of the stage, people screamed for help: demons surrounded the group, attacking those who got too close to their lines. The stage itself was swarming with smaller demons who appeared to be eating the metal scaffolding.

A low, moaning creak cut through the screams of the stadium. Minako looked up and saw the light fixture begin to sway as the beams that supported it were devoured.

The screams redoubled.

"I really should have stayed in bed today." Minako groaned, pulling out her pen, "Moon Power, Make Up!"

Yellow light consumed Minako filling her with power. Warmth spread through her body and she reveled in the sensation of her body growing stronger and her senses opening to a whole new level.

She hated the training, hated the fighting, hated the demons, but she loved being this strong.

The light consumed her clothes and left her battle outfit in its place before returning to its host.

Sailor V jumped down to the stadium floors, bounding across the seat backs and flying over the heads of fleeing attendees. She landed on the catwalk that extended from the front of the stage just as the scaffolding gave out.

Ignoring the screams and snarls, Sailor V jumped up to meet the falling scaffolding. She slammed into the metal frame, slowing its descent. Ignoring the gasps and cries from the crowd below she spread her feet wide and braced for impact.

Sailor V and the scaffolding came down together, the former landing hard on the catwalk. The frame buckled around her and the edges still fell into the crowd but she braced herself and managed to hold a majority of it.

"Gah!" V bit back a cry of pain as her body protested against the weight of half the stage's scaffolding landing on her shoulders. She shook and stumbled, almost letting the rest of it drop but V summoned all her enhanced strength a d straightened to her full height, lifting the edges of the scaffolding out of the crowd. Lights sparked, bolts creaked and bits of metal rained down on the audience but no one moved and no one made a sound.

Sailor V looked out over the crowd, her masked eyes reading the stunned expressions of the audience.

Well, damn. So much for staying on the down low.

"Look out!"

The warning came a second too late. Suddenly the weight of the scaffolding tripled! With a shout, Sailor V's knees buckled and she collapsed under the added weight. Her blonde hair falling across her face, she struggled to turn her head. An absolutely monstrous demon stood over her, one massive foot pressed into the scaffolding. Drool fell from it's jaws, leaving sizzling burns on the ground. White eyes stared down at her from its massive height. Weird, Sailor V thought, demons' eyes are usually red or yellow.

The demon reached down for the blonde, the crowd screamed and ran and Sailor V fought for her life. Fear constricted her throat, and she could not scream even if she wanted to. The demon's massive hand was closing around her when it suddenly released an ear splitting screech.

Sailor V scrambled out from beneath the scaffolding, stumbling to a fighting stance. Her stared as the demon flailed: white playing cards were stuck deep in the demon's shoulders, already stained red from the blood they had drawn.

V stared, "Cards?"

The demon's arm crashed into the drum set, sending it flying out into the crowd. V shook herself out of her stupor, "This ends now!"

Lunging forward, V's fist collided with the demon's face. With a howl of pain the demon fell to the ground, clasping its face between its giant hands. V landed just beyond its flailing body. The demon growled, stumbling back to its feet, it rounded on Sailor V.

"Enough!"

The demon stopped mid charge. It's stance relaxing suddenly.

So you're the pesky human bitch that's been stirring up so much trouble."

Sailor V spun.

A small girl with black hair smiled prettily at the hero. "You've made a lot of enemies, girl."

"Pandora!" Sailor V gasped, stunned to see her idol standing so casually before them and the demons.

"Oh a fan." Pandora cooed, "Let me introduce you to the club."

And then she began to sing: it was a beautifully haunting tone. One that filled the air and oppressed all other sound. Unable to hear anything but the song, Sailor V was caught completely unaware by the demon that snuck up behind her. The demon's claws cut deep into her back. If she screamed she could not hear it over the song.

Sailor V staggered to her feet and turned to face not only the giant demon from before but the others who had once tormented the audience. With nothing but Pandora's song in her head, V lunged into battle.

Sailor V never noticed was how implicitly she relied on sound in a fight. By the time she defeated her third demon she sported more cuts and bruises than any previous skirmish. The second thing she noticed was the blank look in the eyes of all the demons she fought.

Something was wrong.

Every demon in the arena should be vying for a piece of her throat right now—they did have her severely outnumbered after all. Instead the assorted demons stood back while she fought only two or three at a time. Sure the attacks were deadly but they lacked a demon's normal amount of blood lust. In fact, as far as Sailor V could tell, these demons were simply going through the motions of battle instead of actually engaging in it. If anything, they seemed to be hesitating as they fought her: their movements surprisingly slow and jerky.

Like puppets resisting the strings of their master.

Sailor V disabled her current opponent and rounded on Pandora with nothing but instinct to back her theory. She would not use the Crescent Beam so this attack would be personal.

But Pandora reacted too fast! She dodged Sailor V's arguably feeble attempts to strike her. But one of V's kicks nicked her arm: the siren sneered and the song waivered. The attacking demons stumbled and stopped for a moment and that was all the confirmation Sailor V needed.

"I am done!"

With a burst of speed and strength unknown to the young hero, Sailor V's fist collided with Pandora's face. "V Punch!"

Sound slammed back into the world and V did her best to ignore the retreating screams of the crowd and the howls of the demons now free of Pandora's spell. Gasping for breath she straightened up and glared at the siren, "You're done."

"Little bitch." Pandora hissed, her features now twisted and ugly, "I will eat your heart!" she lunged at the teen.

Sailor V stumbled, caught off guard by the sudden attack. Pandora's hand closed around her throat—

Then, suddenly the siren stopped, an odd gagging noise coming from her throat as she collapsed to the ground.

Sailor V tripped over her feet and landed hard on her rear. She stared at he body, trying to understand what had happened.

"Are those cards?"

"Sailor V!"

A figured dropped down from the rafters: a young man clad in white. He knelt beside Sailor V, "Are you okay?"

Sailor V could only stare at the hand he offered her, completely dumbfounded. The man leaned closer; she could see his pale green eyes from beneath his white mask, "Sailor V? Are you hurt?"

"No." V accepted the man's hand, allowing him to pull her to her feet.

He smiled brightly at her, "Good! I was afraid I might not make it in time." Sirens screamed somewhere in the distance and then he was pulling her along, "Come on. We'd best not be here when the police arrive."

Sailor V glanced back at the unmoving form of Pandora and quickly looked back towards her unnamed savior.

There had to be some tragic irony in it somewhere. Or maybe some kind of metaphor: destroying your dreams in the name of duty and all that. But Sailor V did not have time to think about it. All she could see was the blood on her hands and all she could hear was silence.

Sailor V glanced at her mysterious savior, her eyes drawn to the hems of his pants, which were stained in blood. Something tugged at her memory: silky white drenched in red. The image slipped away just as quickly as it came and Sailor V did not have the energy to focus on it.

….

That night was another restless one. Full of nightmares of satin stained with blood and wordless calls in darkness. Minako woke the next morning as Sailor V and with the sun in her eyes. She sat up and found herself on the roof of an old warehouse. Youko was sitting on her right and to her left stood the teen from last night.

"Good morning, Sailor V. I'm glad to see you're awake." The teen greeted with a smile.

Sailor V stared at the handsome teen for a full second before his words registered in her brain, "Morning!?" she jumped to her feet, "What do you mean it's morning?! Oh man, my parents are going to kill me!"

Whatever the white-clad teen had expected when the blonde woke up it was obviously not this; he stared at the girl, "I…uh, I'm sorry. I didn't think…"

"Youko! What the hell? Why didn't you wake me up?" Sailor V rounded on her companion. "And when the hell did you get here anyways?"

Youko glanced at V before his golden eyes returned to the other teen.

V's glare dissolved into a groan, "Ugh, I'm so grounded."

A light chuckle came from beside her and her glare turned on her still anonymous companion. "I'm sorry, Sailor V. I mean no offense." The teen assured him, "You are just rather animated."

Sailor V was in no mood to be laughed at, not matter how hot the guy was, "Yeah, well you're rather creepy considering you've all but kidnapped me and have been watching me sleep all night."

Well, at least he has the decency to blush.

Controlling his mirth, the teen bowed elegantly "Ah, right, then please allow me to introduce myself properly, I am Kaitou Ace."

"Kaitou Ace?" V repeated, still too irritated to be impressed or flattered by the gallant gesture. Her eyes took in his appearance, from his white hair to his straight-leg pants, "And what are you supposed to be?"

Ace scratched his head, "I suppose I am a lot like you, Sailor V. A guardian of justice."

V crossed her arms, "How do I know you're not just another demon trying to get close enough to kill me?" she flinched inwardly at her own paranoia. The fact that she could feel something almost like pride rolling off Youko did not ease her guilt.

Ace chuckled, "If that were the case, don't you think your friend would have killed me already?"

V glanced at Youko. The fox had not said a word nor moved a muscle since she'd woken. "He's not my friend and for all I know he might consider the betrayal a good lesson."

Youko snorted.

Ace's smile deflated, "Sailor V, I promise you, I am not here to cause you harm. I wish to help you. To fight a long side you in your mission."

"Oh really?" Sailor V tried to ignore the tears that pricked at her eyes: his words struck a vulnerable cord. She had wanted to hear someone, anyone, say those words for so long. She wanted someone to comfort her and walk with her through the darkness that almost consumed her life. Sure, Youko was with her almost all the time but he provided no words of comfort to the new warrior, no assurance that it would all be okay. Not a single kind word to ease her nightmares.

"I can't imagine how hard it's been for you. Fighting the Dark Kingdom alone." Ace kept his distance but his words wrapped around Sailor V in a hug, "I want to be here for you, Sailor V. I want to stand by your side against the darkness." He smiled at the blonde, "You don't have to do this alone, anymore, Sailor V."

She was in his arms before she fully realized why. She did not care if she did not know this boy or if Youko disapproved. She needed this comfort so desperately that even if he stabbed her in the back right now she would not regret the comfort this moment granted.

No death strike came. Instead Ace returned her hug, resting his cheek on her forehead. He muttered something into her hair but she could not hear it and it didn't matter.

Finally she pulled away, still fighting down tears: tears do not suite the face of Sailor V.

"I have to go." She explained, moving towards the edge of the roof, "Please don't follow."

"I won't." Ace promised, "I'll see you around Sailor V."

V waved, "Yeah, see you around, Kaitou Ace."

…

And that's the end of this chapter and Act 2! Sorry it took so long to get this last part loaded. I actually had to rewrite about 2/3rds of it, but this is much better, trust me. And then on top of that work/life definitely got in the way though things should be pretty relaxing for the next few months.

Thanks again to Menooshuh, who's advice on Youko sparked a lot of those rewrites.

Hope you all enjoy! Act 3 will be on the way soon…eventually. I am currently working on it though so no worries there! And like I said before, since these next few months should be more relaxing I should have more time to write.

Thank you for reading and please **review**!


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